The three most likely clubs to win the league title and certainly challenge for it for much of the season all won their second games in a row; Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool and it would not be a surprise to see the top 3 at the end of the season with these clubs filling those spaces. For City Haaland netted his first hat trick of the season and he has 4 goals already. New signing Sandro looks to have fitted in well at the club in midfield and of course it was a surprise to see Ilkay Gundogan back, Gundogan returns after just one season at Barcelona. Arsenal beat Aston Villa away from home and how huge a result will that be at the end of the season? The Gunners who looked like champion material in the last campaign were outdone by Villa in the closing stages at home which let in City and was ultimately the result that finished their title hopes off. Again we have seen Mikel Arteta's side progress and move up a level and again they have to be serious contenders to win their first league title since 2004. And then we have Liverpool, the new era Liverpool under Arne Slot. Slot will probably get a free pass this season if the Reds do not win any silverware but it was important for him to get off to a good start and his team certainly has with wins over Ipswich and Brentford, four goals scored and none conceded. The Reds have also announced the signing of Enrico Chiesa from Juventus for just £10m. Chiesa was arguably the best player at Euro 2020 when he helped Italy win the tournament but has lost form since. Despite this the money being spent on him in this day and age seems like a bargain, we will wait and see if the Italian can produce the goods.
Talking of Italians, the Premier League will finally welcome Sandro Tonali. Tonali's near year suspension for gambling issues with former club Milan has ended and this will feel like a new signing for Newcastle who really missed his services last season. Tonali received good praise in midweek as the Magpies knocked out Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup albeit on penalties. It will be interesting to see Tonali perform at the weekend when his club take on Tottenham in what should be a mouthwatering clash. As for the Carabao Cup it is odd to see a competition kick off and not use VAR and yet the next round when the bigger clubs enter the fray the system will be used. Already we have had a controversial moment when Jarrod Bowen's late goal for West Ham was enough to knock out Bournemouth. However the ball clearly came off his arm, in any other competition and even in the next round of this one the goal would not have stood. It was an open mouth moment but it shows the inconsistencies of football's rules as a whole.
Finally we say R.I.P to former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson who sadly passed away this week at the age of 76. Eriksson had a successful career as a manager between 1977-2001 culminating in winning Lazio's latest league title in Italy. He is more well known in England of course for being the very first foreign manager to take over the role with the national side. Although the quarter final stages of major competitions was the best he achieved, he was in the job for five years and yielded a 59% win rate, rarely losing competitive games. And of course nobody will ever forget England's historic 5-1 win away to Germany in a World Cup qualifying game. After England Eriksson took on many other managerial jobs with no success.
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